VG Pocket Caplet

Through the years of Game Boy's success, several toy companies have tried to cash in on the handheld market using standalone, single-game players. Tiger Electronics was one of the biggest supporters of the field, with games like Afterburner, which used an arcade-style flight stick.

Their creative efforts were notable, but the resulting games were rarely memorable. Most were barely two-dimensional, using lines and plain drawings to imitate a game world. Gameplay was typically limited to one or two actions. Aside from being colorless, the graphics processor also lacked the power to push more than one world.

Gamers saw the release of compilation handheld systems in the late 90s, but none of these included a substantial lineup of quality games. And they were still colorless.

Performance Designed Products (PDP) has finally changed that. They've designed a line of new, lower-priced devices that feature gameplay quality that's comparable to the Game Boy Advance. Featuring 35 built-in games including three well-known classics – Space Invaders, Bust-A-Move, and Burger Time – the VG Pocket "Caplet" features a 2.5'' TFT LCD screen, four face buttons, and one D-pad. 

A small sampling of the VG Pocket Caplet’s built-in lineup. 

It's very small and light, even when the three AAA batteries it requires (not included) are inserted. The curved shape and highly raised buttons prevent the device from causing fatigue after long hours of play.

Once the games are employed and a solid comfort level has been reached, the most important thing is picture quality. Without question, this is the best screen I have ever seen on a standalone gaming device. It's clear, free of pixelation, and doesn't have any strange or weird-looking spots found in other standalone gaming devices. When you're looking down at the VG Pocket Caplet, you'll swear you were looking down at a Game Boy Advance SP.

Game Time

Space Invaders, Bust-A-Move, and Burger Time are quality conversions of the original games. Sudoku Quiz is just what it sounds like and should appeal to anyone who likes playing Sudoku.

The VG Pocket Caplet also includes several games that are either new and/or similar to existing titles. For example, Battle Blocks II and Underwater Pinball are fun Arkanoid clones with surprisingly good controls (considering they use a D-pad). Box Boy, however, isn't quite like anything I've played before. It doesn't look too eventful, featuring some of the most primitive graphics available on the Caplet. The goal sounds simple: push all the boxes on top of the red circles. Each stage has a different formation, with different box amounts, and a wide variety of ways and moves that must be employed to solve the puzzle. It's very clever. Anyone who likes unique puzzle games will be intrigued.

Those who want a more traditional puzzle game experience should check out Bubble Wubble and Bubble Blaster. The former is a Tetris clone; the latter is like the Web game Zooma, a Bust-A-Move-style puzzler where the balls fill the screen by forming a circular pattern. Puzzle Chance is similar to (but slower than) Zoo Keeper for the Nintendo DS. 

Crystal Cavern is an interesting twist on the usual puzzle formula. You control a crystal-loving pirate who must snatch crystals from a falling cluster. The goal is to link a minimum of three crystals, of the same color, to the cluster. You do that by grabbing as many as you can, then shoot them back into the cluster to see if they'll disappear. Various combos can arise from your actions, with more than one row being taken out if each row has three or more of the same crystals within them.

In Blazebusters, players control two firemen holding a trampoline. The goal is to bounce another fireman into the air so that he can rescue people from burning buildings, ships, and other structures. Once he's got someone, you must quickly bring the trampoline over to him to safely catch the rescued person before the fireman falls. There have been games like this before, but this one is still very addictive.

Greedy Grabber is a 2D, top-down maze game that has you collecting objects and dodging what appear to be low-budget tanks. The controls and level design are reminiscent of Pac-Man, but the similarities end there.

Survival Challenge is pretty cool. It looks like Frogger* but is actually another puzzle game. Hitting a frog makes him eject his tongue. If another frog is in front of him, his tongue will hit the other frog, causing that frog to eject his tongue as well. This chain of events is only limited by the number of frogs in each stage. The goal is eat all of the bugs by linking together as many of the frogs as necessary.

*Frogger will be featured in the VG Pocket Tablet, another standalone handheld gaming device, due for release this fall. 

Switch and Mix is just like the Tiger Electronics game Lights Out**. Black (unlit) pieces are good -- red (lit) pieces are bad. To eliminate the red pieces, you must select them. But you can only select one at a time, and eliminating one can make others appear. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense at first (at least it didn't when I was a kid), but you'll eventually figure out the patterns that lead to success. For example, if you have five red pieces in the center of the screen -- three vertical and two horizontal, crossing each other like a plus sign -- you'll discover that you can make all of them disappear just by eliminating the center piece.

**The first Resident Evil featured a mini-game just like this. If memory serves right, solving the puzzle unlocked the door to the chemical mixing room.

Final Round Tennis is like any 2D, Game Boy Advance tennis game. It's better than Pong, but let's face it: that's what most Tennis games really are. The Pong versus Andy Roddick commercial acknowledges that fact. Decent, but mostly a time-killer.

The rest of the games might not sound familiar by name, but should definitely be familiar once you start playing.

Gameplay: 8
Fun, simple games – some old, some new (?). The controls are responsive and comfortable, feeling a lot like the SNES and PlayStation controllers. Young or old, this device has something for everyone.

Graphics: 8
The graphics are dated, no argument there. But the screen you’ll play them on is bright, beautiful, and crystal clear. The best of any standalone handheld gaming device.

Sound: 7
The VG Pocket Caplet itself has a decent sound processor. The games included, however, are from an era where sound was very basic.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Most of these games are a little on the easy side. Space Invaders is the obvious exception. Bubble Blaster is no pushover either, while Bust-A-Move will provide a nice challenge for first-time players.

Concept: 8
A standalone handheld gaming device featuring three classics (Space Invaders, Bust-A-Move and Burger Time) plus 32 Game Boy Advance-style games. The idea of this has been around since the 70s, but this is the first time that a developer has created one that’s comparable to other handheld gaming experiences.

Overall: 8
Good games, great picture quality, comfortable to use for long hours – the VG Pocket Caplet is a handheld winner. You can’t go wrong with Space Invaders or Bust-A-Move. I’ve never been a big fan of Burger Time, but if you liked the original, you’ll enjoy this port. The other games are a mixed bag – some are very addictive, others aren’t nearly as appealing. Overall it’s a very cool and satisfying system that’ll take you back to the early days of gaming. And introduce kids to a world of titles and gameplay styles they never knew.